How VPPSA Charted Their Own Path to Serve EV Customers – at 2.5% the cost of the alternative
Faced with a state mandate, fragmented infrastructure, and no advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), VPPSA needed a new kind of solution. In partnership with Bellawatt, they:
Launched a fully functional EV tariff rider without installing new utility-side hardware
Enabled program administration across 11 distinct utilities – no backend integrations or automation required
Delivered the full platform at ~2.5% of the cost of a projected AMI rollout
Earned regulatory support from the Vermont PUC after a live demo
Set a replicable model for customer-centric, device-level programs in low-AMI environments
Statewide Goal Meets Local Reality
When the Vermont Legislature passed Act 55, mandating that all electric distribution utilities offer PEV rates by mid-2024, it sent a clear signal to the state’s electric utilities: EV adoption couldn’t wait. The legislation required not just theoretical plans, but functioning tariffs – ideally ones that would encourage smarter charging behaviors and support statewide decarbonization goals.
For the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA), the ask was anything but simple.
VPPSA is a joint action agency serving 11 small municipal utilities across the state, each with its own legacy systems, billing processes, and operational realities. Many lacked AMI infrastructure. Meter reads happen on foot. Customer data was fragmented across platforms. There was no unified customer portal, no shared automation backbone, and no clear path forward.
Still, VPPSA met the moment with vision and resourcefulness. They reached out to Bellawatt looking for a partner who could help design and build a dynamic, device-level EV program that worked with their current reality – not against it.
A Mandate Without a Manual
VPPSA’s situation is one that many smaller or rural utilities will find familiar. They were ready to deliver on the mandate, but their infrastructure wasn’t. Systems varied widely in sophistication, and most were designed around manual processes. Device-level data access, consistent integration methods, and real-time visibility were all out of reach within their current setup.
Even if a traditional time-of-use rate had been designed, there was no mechanism for tracking usage at the device level – or for getting that data into the billing systems in a timely, auditable way. Any viable solution would need to account for not only these technological limitations, but also the human workflows that kept things running.
Testimonial
Matt Gizmunt, Senior Product Manager @ Bellawatt
Discovery: The First Deliverable
From the beginning, Bellawatt approached the engagement not as a typical product build, but as a chance to co-invent a new model. Discovery wasn’t a box to check – it was the heart of the work.
Over the course of Phase 1 (discovery, leading to a comprehensive Implementation Plan) the team conducted in-depth interviews with VPPSA program staff and representatives from six member utilities. Those conversations revealed a complex technical and organizational landscape. There were no shared APIs. CSV workarounds were common. Some utilities were mid-upgrade; others hadn’t started. AMI was on the horizon, but years out.
In the words of one participant, “Everything we tell you about our current system will change once we upgrade.” A reminder that the future was in flux, and yet the program needed to work now.
Bellawatt’s engineering team was embedded in discovery from the start, which allowed the team to identify risk factors early on and shape decisions accordingly. One critical choice was partnering with Enode as the distributed energy resource integration layer. Enode’s APIs provided secure, standardized access to EVs and chargers (regardless of the OEM) – and could easily extend to other devices like batteries or inverters in the future. It meant Bellawatt could collect granular usage data directly from the source, with no new utility-side infrastructure required.
This wasn’t just about architecture. It was about alignment. Bellawatt’s team took time to learn the nuances of VPPSA’s regulatory context, its member utility operations, and the needs of its customers. In doing so, they helped VPPSA turn what could have been a limitation into a strength. Constraints around infrastructure didn’t slow the work – they sharpened the focus, and ultimately fueled a more modern, modular approach.
From Concept to Code
Implementation Plan in hand, Bellawatt transitioned into the design and development phase with a clear path forward. The result was a lightweight, powerful platform that handled everything from enrollment to billing:
A streamlined customer portal made it easy for eligible participants to enroll, connect their EV or charger, and monitor performance. Under the hood, Bellawatt’s integration with Enode enabled real-time communication between customer devices and the platform – no additional hardware needed.
For VPPSA and utility staff, an intuitive admin portal provided dashboards to manage enrollment, set price adders, and track usage data. The system included a pricing engine that pulled day-ahead hourly pricing from ISO-NE, layered in local adders, and generated daily notifications to help customers charge during off-peak hours.
Finally, a billing reconciliation module translated usage into monthly bill credits. The output was designed to integrate with a range of billing systems – whether through structured exports, manual entry formats, or CSV uploads. It was a pragmatic solution tailored to the realities of VPPSA’s diverse membership.
The platform wasn’t just functional – it was polished. The outcome? An integration so sleek, so hands-off that it almost felt invisible. But behind the scenes, it was doing everything.
Testimonial
Manager @ VPPSA
More Than Compliant: A Model in the Making
The results speak for themselves: the project was delivered at roughly 2.5% the cost of a projected full AMI deployment. And it offered something even more valuable – cutting-edge technology that mitigated risk and transformed complexity into clarity.
As the project neared completion, Bellawatt was invited to join VPPSA in presenting the solution to the Vermont Public Utilities Commission – a first for the team, and a testament to the partnership that had formed. The reception was strong. VPPSA emerged not just as a compliant utility, but as a leader in creative, customer-focused program design.
Ultimately, we aren’t just helping VPPSA meet the mandate. We’re helping them move the energy industry forward.
Meeting Utilities Where They Are; Guiding Them to Where They’re Going
While the public launch is still ahead, the momentum is real. VPPSA is approaching this pilot as a first step, with an eye toward broader opportunities on the horizon.
Meanwhile, VPPSA’s prices-to-devices program is already drawing attention from peers as other utilities explore similar models. The tool’s architecture – designed with flexibility in mind – can accommodate new devices and use cases over time.
For Bellawatt, the engagement was a pivotal project and marker of what’s possible. It shows that even in resource-constrained environments, modern software can turn complexity into clarity, and ambition into action.
Want to explore what a prices-to-devices future could look like for your utility? Let’s chat!
